The plane is understood to have had 65 passengers on board alongside six crew members.

There are no survivors from a passenger plane that crashed near Moscow, Russia's transport minister has said.

Images which have emerged on Russian media show what appears to be debris from the plane in the snow. The Russian Transport Ministry was considering various possible reasons, including weather conditions and pilot error, Interfax said.

The Emergencies Ministry said it had sent crews to the crash site, in Stepanovskoye.

The Antonov AN-148 aircraft had gone off the radar soon after it left Moscow's Domodedovo Airport.

Flight 703 was en route to Orsk, a Russian city near the border of Kazakhstan.

Russian President Vladimir Putin "deep condolences to all those who lost relatives and friends in this disaster", his spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to Tass. Many witnesses have reportedly told the media that they saw a plane in flames falling from the sky.

Flightradar24 has also reported that it tracked the aircraft descending at 3.300 feet (1,000 metres) per minute some five minutes after take-off, before the signal was then lost.

The national Investigative Committee said on its website that it had opened a criminal case over alleged breach of aviation safety.

"Initial reports from Russian Federation blamed the crash on weather or human error, however, it was unclear how that measures up with claims that the plane "[fell] apart in the sky".

The An-148 regional jet, developed by Ukraine's Antonov company, has been flying since 2012, with a two-year break between 2015 and 2017 because of lack of parts.

The Russian-made plane had been bought by Saratov from another Russian airline a year ago.

Popular news

Backed Israel vows action vs Iran 'entrenchment' in Syria
Danny Danon, Israel's ambassador to the UN, speaks at the General Assembly, December 21, 2017, at United Nations headquarters. Iran has considerably increased its presence in Syria since the outbreak of that country's civil war in 2011.

Teenager Wins First US Gold Medal at Pyeongchang Olympics
Gerard becomes the youngest USA snowboarder to win an Olympic medal since the sport made its Games debut at Nagano 1998. Canadian Max Parrot , who had fallen on each of his first two runs, then nailed his final run for the silver medal.

Montreal expecting freezing rain overnight
The warning comes with the usual caution of slippery roads, sidewalks and parking lots and transportation delays. The sun will be back by Monday in Montreal, with a high of -5 C, as well as Tuesday with -7 C.

Death of Asma Jahangir is shocking
Nobel prize victor Malala Yousafzai remarked: "Heartbroken that we lost Asma Jahangir - a saviour of democracy and human rights ". As the news of her death broke, condolences started pouring in from lawyers, rights activists and politicians.

Van Dijk starts on Southampton return
His weak displays have hugely influenced Jurgen Klopp's decision to bring Virgil Van Dijk from Southampton for a world-record fee. Liverpool have been particularly strong on their travels this season and have scored a league-high 34 goals.

VLC 3.0 Released with HDR, Chromecast Support
It's no wonder VLC 3.0 is an update geared towards the feature and created to offer the best value for their longtime users. VideoLAN has launched VLC 3.0 across Windows, Mac, Linux, ChromeOS, iOS and Android, as well as Android TV and Apple TV.